From Whitetail 365: What is little known about Buffalo Co. Wis. is that albino deer are fairly common there. In fact it’s entirely possible—after talking to the right people—to drive around some summer evening and see a pretty good wad of white deer feeding in soybean and alfalfa fields. While there’s no such thing as an ugly deer, albinos are a pretty darn special sight. The people of Wisconsin think they’re so special that you can get into big trouble for shooting one.

Of course, right across the Mississippi River from there is my home state of Minnesota. Kill a white deer here and you’ll get your picture in the paper, and not in the “district court report” section. Protecting albinos is an interesting thing. Most of us know by now that these are genetically inferior deer that in most cases are poorly equipped to survive in the wild. Indeed, some of my Wisconsin friends have found albino bucks dying in the middle of summer from any of a host of diseases they’re susceptible to. Naturally, there are exceptions. About five years ago, I was hunting Buffalo and rattled in a 3-1/2 year old albino buck with an 8-point rack. That deer is still alive. He is now a monstrous 10-point with candelabra antlers that appear anything but genetically inferior. People drive for miles to check him out, lining up along his favorite fields with spotting scopes sprouting from their truck windows.

Whiter Shade of Tail

Back in the '90s I discovered a partially albinistic robin in a nearby park. I was much impressed. Though, after I marched all my biology classes the three-quarters of mile to the area to show them the lingering bird, they were not so impressed.
Scott Maruna is a high school science teacher and author from west central Illinois with a fascination in all forms of anomalous natural history. He may be contacted at hissingcockroaches (at) yahoo.com.